


Eddie Kaspbrak can't tie his shoes

by ghostynoah



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Not Shippy, Other, lil angsty you know but its not like really bad, purposely put some steddie though but you have to squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 17:37:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15175892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostynoah/pseuds/ghostynoah
Summary: Eddie Kaspbrak never learned to tie his shoes.He was fourteen, and Eddie still didnt know how to tie his shoes.He's worn strictly slip ons and velcro shoes his entire life, due to his mother's wishes against him wearing laced shoes.





	Eddie Kaspbrak can't tie his shoes

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first time ive ever written anything for a03 and im a bad writer so dsfsdf

Eddie Kaspbrak never learned to tie his shoes. 

He was fourteen, and Eddie still didnt know how to tie his shoes. 

He's worn strictly slip ons and velcro shoes his entire life, due to his mother's wishes against him wearing laced shoes. 

He asked his mother for a pair once, before the 4th grade began. They were shopping in the mall and had stopped in the shoe store to get him new shoes for the school year. Eddie wandered down the boys shoe aisle his mother had dragged him into, she too distracted by whatever she was digging in her purse for to notice. His eyes landed on an all white pair of low-top converse sneakers. They were a half size bigger then Eddies actual size, so he would have room to grow into them a bit. 

His mother appeared beside him, grabbing his wrist to pull him back down the aisle. 

"What are you doing Eddie? You worried me, sneaking off like that." She had nagged. 

He had just walked down the aisle, Eddie thought.

"Wait, mommy." He pointed to the converse sneakers, before she could drag him away. "Can I get those ones?" 

She had chuckled, the annoying snobby chuckle Eddie knew all too well. "Of course you can't, Eddie bear, those have laces." 

"Why can't i have laces?" Eddie had asked, his big doe eyes looking up at his mother. 

She sighed. "You could trip on them, Eddie, you could skin your knee, hurt yourself." Eddie looked down at the floor.

"I'm just looking out for you, taking care of you, like I always do." Eddie sighed, but didn't press on it anymore.

They left the store with a pair of new green and blue velcro shoes for Eddie. 

Since, Eddie had learned to just not question his mothers decisions, he felt there was no use for him to fight it. 

This was technically a small gap he had in things most kids experience, he definitely has bigger things he was unable to do unlike most kids, but this one bothered him the most. It was a small thing. It was having a pair of shoes with laces, being able to tie his shoes. It made him angry, that he couldn't have this small thing, but he always bottled that up, like he did all his negative emotions relating to his mother. 

Richie had poked at the fact that "As long as I've known you, you've never had a pair of shoes with laces, can't learn to tie your shoes, Eds?" It was a small joke, a few of the losers maybe chuckled a bit, but they moved on right after, and Eddie knew richie didn't have any malicious intent. Yet it still hurt. Eddie had still felt a burning shame in his chest. 

It was brought up again a few weeks before freshman year started. This time they didn't move on from it so quickly.

It was again Richie who brought it up, because he always noticed little things like this. The losers had gone swimming in the quarry, and after drying off the changing back into their clothes they were putting their shoes on. Eddie was slipping on his pair of black slip on vans when Richie spoke up. "Have you ever had laced shoes, Eddie spaghetti?" Richie had chuckled lightheartedly. 

Eddie didn't reply, he just kept silent as he put on his other shoe. "Yeah, I haven't ever seen you with laced shoes." Bill said. Eddie cringed, hoping they would just move on. 

"It's okay if you can't tie your shoes Eddie, plenty of people aren't smart enough to." Richie joked. Eddie's chest tightened, and he felt tears form in his eyes. He was just messing around, Eddie, it's fine, he doesn't know, he thought. But he still felt a tear roll down his cheek. He tried to hide his face, but Beverly could see right through him. 

"Hey, Eddie, are you okay?" Her voice was soft. the rest of the losers looked at Eddie, concerned. 

"I'm fine, I just-" his voice quivered. He sighed and sat down on a nearby rock, wiping his face clear of tears. He trusted the losers with everything, he didn't know why it was so hard for him to tell them about this. He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Stan had sat down next to him, resting a hand on his shoulder. 

"It's okay, Eddie." He reassured. And Eddie wanted to break down right there, cry out the years of bottled up emotions, to just let it spill out of him. But he kept that bottle closed, he wasn't ready to be that vulnerable about this stuff. Not yet. 

"I just- my mom never let me have them." His voice cracked, making him cringe. 

"Laced shoes?" Ben asked. Eddie nodded. 

"She said it was to protect me, or something. But I just feel like an idiot. I'm fourteen years old and I can't even tie my fucking shoes." Eddie brushed his hand through his hair, pulling his bangs out of his face. 

"I'm sorry Eddie. I didn't mean to- I just-" Richie started to apologize, a tear rolling down his own face. 

"It's okay, Richie, you didn't know." 

"Why don't we get you some laced shoes?" Mike suggested. Eddie shook his head.

"Mom would never allow it." He sighed. 

"well screw what your mom allows." Bill chimed in. Eddie laughed. "I'm serious! Let's get you some fucking shoes with some fucking laces!" Bill proclaimed.

"Yeah!" the others loser agreed. 

"Guys, seriously, we can't." Eddie asserted. "She'd flip her shit."

"I say you stand up to her. You've taken enough of her shit for too long." Beverly insisted. 

"Yeah, you're strong Eddie, you don't need to deal with her shit, you can stand up to her, and we'll have your back." Stan spoke. 

"I dont know..." Eddie trailed off.

"We believe in you, Eddie." Ben smiled softly. "You just gotta believe in yourself."

A small smile grew on Eddie's face. "Okay." He nodded gently, after a moment. They all left off for the mall on their bikes with a smile. 

They all pitched in, and Eddie got to buy those all white low-top converse sneakers, finally. 

They went to Bill's house and taught Eddie how to tie them, he caught on quickly. 

And as Eddie rode home on his bike that afternoon, after they had played some monopoly, he prepared himself for how his mother would react to his new shoes.


End file.
